A Dissection of Feasible Interpretive Tangents From a Discrete Comparative Assessment in CME (aka: What Does My Outcomes Data Mean?)Jason Olivieri, MPH, Director of Outcomes, Med-IQSummary: What if your super power was the ability to command unlimited attention? How would you use it? Maybe negotiate world peace between the leaders of all nations? Not bad. Me? Oh…I’d use it to explain all possible interpretations of pre/post data for a case vignette question. And, yes, I’d wear a super suit. Here’s some of what I’d address:

Who does my data represent?

What qualifies a case vignette?

When do I need effect size?

Where is reliability and validity a concern?

Why are my post-activity scores low?

How do you interpret p-value?

What Makes Your Session Unique?: This will be a detail-rich, step-by-step guide to interpreting pre/post CME outcomes data. And as added bonus, this session is sanctioned by the League of Assessors (LoA) as a tier II educational activity. Those who brave and pass the post-activity examination will be awarded “CME Outcome Statistician, second grade” certification.Length of Session: 60 minutes

Applying Behavior Change Theory to CME to Facilitate and Measure Adoption of Best PracticesMike LoPresti, BS; Sr. Director, Business Development, Global Academy for Medical EducationSara Johnson, PhD, Co-President & CEO, Pro-Change Behavior SystemsSummary: In assuming our roles as CME professionals, we inherently accepted the daunting challenge of facilitating and measuring behavior change. But how often do we ground our education in proven behavior change theories and research to make our jobs easier? We’ve each arrived at our current positions through a unique path, many never receiving formal training in behavior change. So let’s take some time to review key behavior change theories and how they’ve been – or could be – applied to your next CME program. When our talk has ended, you may just be wondering what principles we used to change YOUR behavior.What Makes Your Session Unique?: The common supporter question, “How do we know this program will be successful?” is rarely answered with, “It’s built on proven behavior change principles.” In developing an educational program, it’s often forgotten that every component should be directed toward changing behavior. Reminders of this key tenet of CME are rare.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Best Practices Writing CME Needs AssessmentsDonald Harting MA, ELS, CHCP, Medical Writer Specializing in Continuing Education, Harting Communications LLCSummary: A needs assessment (NA) lies at the heart of every application for commercial support of an accredited program for continuing education in the health professions. The days of the mass-produced, one-size-fits-all NA are over, and a well-written NA that draws on multiple sources of evidence can help your application stand out from the competition. Aimed at anyone who writes, edits, or purchases needs assessments, this webinar reviews two years’ worth of nationwide survey data on best practices used by veteran medical writers when gathering and presenting data about clinical practice gaps.What Makes Your Session Unique?: Our e-poster on this topic won the People’s Choice award from attendees at the 2016 meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions. Length of Session: 30 minutes

Can This NA Be Saved?Donald Harting MA, ELS, CHCP, Medical Writer Specializing in Continuing Education, Harting Communications LLCNathalie Turner, MS, ELS, Senior Grant Developer, Medscape EducationSummary: In CME needs assessment, as in love, it’s all about relationships. How do your sources of evidence relate to your practice gaps, how do your practice gaps relate to your learning objectives, and how do your learning objectives relate to your desired outcomes? Are all these components fully aligned, or is there conflict and confusion? Using real examples of dysfunctional NAs submitted in advance by CMEpalooza viewers, these two advice columnists — er, medical writers — will show you how weak relationships can be strengthened, and how domestic tranquility can be restored.What Makes Your Session Unique?: If you struggle with dysfunctional needs assessments, here’s your chance to get free consulting advice from two professional medical writers with 18 years of combined freelance and med ed staff experience, who also happen to be board-certified editors in the life sciences.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Evidence, schmevidence–what is the clinical data telling me?Bonny P McClain, MSc, DC, writer, author, speaker, analyst Data & DonutsSummary: We are informed by data. But be warned, ‘Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.’ In medical education we have a rare opportunity to decipher the data, uncover the evidence, and provide attendees with high-value clinical information at the point of care…but are we? Let’s look at dynamic evidence that pulls at the thread of numeracy and translates population level data to the point of care. We will talk about the benefits and harms associated with a variety of interventions. A cautionary tale to help you avoid an embarrassing “swimsuit malfunction”…What Makes Your Session Unique?: Medical education is evidence-based but how are we vetting the evidence? A dynamic pechakucha type engagement will highlight the pitfalls of limited numeracy in medicine. And reveal how to create high-value content.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Improving Response Rates on CME SurveysBoyce Byerly, Ph.D., Principal, Level 6 AnalyticsSummary: Surveys remain an important cornerstone of CME work: asking the person involved is the best way to gain information on many different levels simultaneously. High return rates make data analysis so much better: there are more quotes available, the certainty of the basic conclusions is higher, and there’s more ability to slice the data more finely by demographic groups. Calculating how many responses you need, the likelihood of getting those responses, and what to do to improve participation are all important areas discussed in this presentation.What Makes Your Session Unique?: There’s nothing in the literature specific to CME response rates. This presentation collects information on CME response rates from across the literature, as well as combining useful conclusions from non-CME, although healthcare-related, research, and common sense advice to calculate the response rates you need and how to achieve them.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Kwahl’i-tē im-prūv’mĕnt: You can say it, but can you do it?Sara Miller, MS, Director, Quality Improvement Institute, CE Content and Strategy, Med-IQ
Heather Guerrero, MA, CCMEP, Associate Director, Independent Medical Education, Gilead SciencesSummary: It’s impossible to spend 5 minutes in our industry without someone bringing up quality improvement. But what exactly is QI for the CE professional? What are the barriers providers and supporters will face when embarking on QI? How many clinicians are needed for a good project? Is IRB review a necessity? How does a provider access data? Do you know what to do with the data? How much time does QI take? How much money? Is it worth it? This session will break through the clutter and look at the critical elements of QI from the educator and supporter roles.What Makes Your Session Unique?: This session is a unique and honest look at QI initiatives in the CE arena; the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’ll talk about why QI is important but dangerous. The end goal for this session is to better arm providers and supporters to design, execute, and evaluate QI.Length of Session: 60 minutes

More Than Just a Lit Summary: Using Compelling Data in Grant Requests to Support Practice Gaps and Clinician Educational NeedsMonique Johnson, MD, CHCP, Director, Educational Development, Imedex, LLC
Audrie Tornow, CHCP, Senior Director, CME, Paradigm Medical Communications, LLCSummary: In order to develop effective CME grant needs assessments, support for practice gaps and educational needs should be documented using more than just the medical literature. You must invoke your persuasive writing skills. To that end, this session will demonstrate how 2 experienced proposal writers use data from learners (target audience surveys and outcomes), experts (KOL interviews), and patients (patient forums and blogs) to support strong needs assessments. Additionally, we will share pearls from commercial supporters (interviewed in advance) on characteristics of a strong needs assessment and compelling proposals that garner their attention with the CMEpalooza audience.What Makes Your Session Unique?: Seasoned CME professionals (each has more than 10 years of experience and has earned the CHCP credential) sharing different perspectives to help participants develop proposals that combine innovative and classic data in innovative ways. Plus insights from supporters, all in less time than it takes to watch Jeopardy!Length of Session: 30 minutes

No Hail Mary’s Required: Novel Ways to Use Data for Continual Program AssessmentErik D. Brady, PhD, CHCP, Principal Consultant, EDBPhD Consulting; Director of Graduate Education Programs, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Erin Schwartz, CEO/Principal Consultant, Vivacity Consulting
Jacqueline Steltz-Lenarsky, M.A., Manager of Continuing Medical Education, Providence Saint Joseph Medical CenterSummary: You’ve heard plenty about activity assessment. We get it, you’ve heard enough about how to assess your activities, and maybe even your curricula, but this session is about program assessment. How do you assess your CE program overall? How do you set yourself up for compliance with Criterion 12? How do you couple that analysis to Criterion 13 and to your Mission statement? Most importantly, how do you assure that you are on target with your overall program? We’ve some ideas on how to set yourself up for ongoing program assessment. Tune in for some best practices.What Makes Your Session Unique?: Prior outcomes assessment activities at CMEpalooza have focused on activity level analysis. This session will focus on rolling activity data up to improve your ability to understand what is happening at the organizational level. We will invite viewers to offer their experiences and challenges in program assessment.Length of Session: 60 minutes

Pediatric Community Engagement Case StudyKenneth E. Korber, PA, MHPE, CHC-ASH, Chief Learning Officer, Health Education GroupSummary: Patient engagement has long been considered to enhance therapeutic goal attainment and increase the cost-effectiveness of clinical services. However, there are no measures of patient engagement that have been created or validated for use in pediatric preventive cardiovascular care and wellness. Accordingly, research on the best ways of fostering engagement and its predictive value, with respect to outcomes and costs, has been hampered. This community-based pilot project blends the established (and familiar) resources of reading skills and music immersion for teachers and music educators; but, utilizes them in a younger age group with a new tool. The primary goal is to qualitatively measure and make field-based observations as to the “stickiness” of cardiovascular wellness interventions, through reading, exercise, and music, among 6- and 7-year olds.What Makes Your Session Unique?: This is the first time such a program has been implemented as an inter-professional patient engagement tool for cardiovascular disease prevention. It is easily reproducible across multiple therapeutic categories for at-risk populations.Length of Session: 30 minutes

QDFD: Quick and Dirty Faculty DevelopmentMeaghan P Ruddy, MA, PhD, Acting VP of GME/ Director of Transformative Education, The Wright Center for GME, Asst. Prof. of Family Medicine, The Commonwealth Medical College, Asst. Prof. of Clinical Science, AT Still University School of Osteopathic MedicineSummary: Practicing clinicians who also serve as clinical faculty are often hungry for faculty development but too busy and/ or underfunded for long conferences. Online CME is okay, but it is often medicine focused and not very engaging. QDFD aims to fill the needs of clinical faculty who want more teaching and learning development in small, manageable, engaging sessions (was going to say chunks but that word is kind of gross).What Makes Your Session Unique?: Most Faculty Development is deep and broad, as good scholarship should be. QDFD is not perfect scholarship: it is brief, narrow, pointed, highly focused, fast and perhaps just what busy clinical faculty need.Length of Session: 30 minutes

SQUIRE For DummiesDonald Harting MA, ELS, CHCP, Medical Writer Specializing in Continuing Education, Harting Communications LLC
Luis Salazar, CHCP, CME ConsultantSummary: If your boss told you to learn about the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE), then this session is for you. We start with the 30,000-foot view, painting the big picture of how SQUIRE, quality improvement, and CME/CPD are related. Along the way we’ll demonstrate the new ACEHP SQUIRE tool. Then we’ll swoop down for a close-up, looking at an actual case example of a CME/QI project that was published in a peer-reviewed journal. We’ll leave time for your questions.What Makes Your Session Unique?: Luis and Don both attended the sunrise sessions on SQUIRE during the 2016 annual meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions. They are both certified healthcare CPD professionals, and they both happen to be former Boy Scouts who enjoy helping others.Length of Session: 30 minutes

The Answer is NOT Always ‘All the Above’Karyn Ruiz-Cordell, PhD, Chief Data Scientist, VP Analytics, RealCME
Kathy Joubin, PhD, Adjunct Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Analyst, RealCMESummary: What are the best practices for constructing assessment questions? Do certain response formats impact data collection and analysis differently? This session will explore all of the factors that contribute to ideal question creation and how to optimize your data yield. Topics will include context concerns, question structure, and response formats. Question samples will be utilized to demonstrate effective techniques.What Makes Your Session Unique?: The session will be presented from both the lens of traditional and modern test theory, highlighting the importance of the entire question, including considerations around response selections, to gain further insights regarding outcomes and to identify persistent gaps.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Top 20 Free Online Needs Assessment GuidelinesDonald Harting MA, ELS, CHCP, Medical Writer Specializing in Continuing Education, Harting Communications LLCSummary: Why waste time rummaging around on the Internet, looking for the best free guidelines for writing CME needs assessments, when a certified professional has already found and ranked them for you? Attend this brief webinar to learn about writing guidelines that are clear, authoritative, up-to-date, and reader-friendly. A PDF handout of the top 20 guidelines on the Internet will be provided to everyone who requests it.What Makes Your Session Unique?: his webinar has broad appeal because it serves the practical, everyday needs of the many people who actually write the needs assessments that are folded into requests for commercial support for continuing education in the health professions.Length of Session: 30 minutes

What’s Your Net Promoter Score®? Learn about Customer Satisfaction Improvement from Other IndustriesDerek Dietze, MA, FACEHP, CHCP, President, Improve CME, LLCSummary: Fortune 100 companies use the Net Promoter Score® as a key tool to assess and improve customer satisfaction. They compare themselves to benchmarks within their own industries. How could you use this tool to assess and improve healthcare professionals’ satisfaction with your CME/CE products and services? Learn about the 1 question used to calculate this score, how and when to use it, and how it can help your organization differentiate it’s CME/CE.What Makes Your Session Unique?: Join a discussion on an assessment tool that is new to the CEHP community, but not the rest of the world–Net Promoter Score. Led by a Certified Net Promoter Associate and outcomes specialist, take the opportunity to learn from other industries as they work to improve customer satisfaction.Length of Session: 30 minutes

Your CME Saved the Health Care System How Much Money?Derek Dietze, MA, FACEHP, CHCP, President, Improve CME, LLCSummary: Analyses of cost savings to the health care system based on CME/CE activity participation are newer to the CEHP community, but are getting a tremendous amount of interest and attention. What do these analyses look like? When should they be used? Is this just a fad, or does it have legs? Why are commercial supporters interested in it? Join me for a discussion on this new and emerging trend and become an early adopter.What Makes Your Session Unique?: This session includes the insights of a CHCP professional who has weathered 25 years of of CEHP and has seen several forms of outcomes assessment rise and fall in popularity. This one is very new to us, and has staying power for a variety of reasons.Length of Session: 60 minutes